


trip to the aquarium

by caramelcaramelcaramel



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Aquariums, Awkward Crush, Caring, Crushes, Drabble, F/M, Field Trip, Fluff, Friendship, High School, Mutual Pining, Nervousness, One Shot, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Pining, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24713434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caramelcaramelcaramel/pseuds/caramelcaramelcaramel
Summary: MJ hates aquariums on principle, so when a mandatory field trip forces her to go, she's a little salty.Peter thinks she's upset, and check on her.aka a short, pre-ffh drabblesee other drabbles, updates on other fics, and early access to chaptershere!
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	trip to the aquarium

“Mandatory?” MJ asked.

Peter looked over at her with a puzzled look, but she wasn’t paying attention to him.

“Mandatory,” their biology teacher confirmed. “Unless you’d like to forfeit ten percent of your final grade, Miss Jones.”

MJ sank back in her seat.

“We’ll be going to the aquarium tomorrow, so make sure to get your permission forms signed tonight.”

The bell rang, and MJ stuffed her form into her backpack and walked out of the classroom with a huff.

“I wonder what that’s about,” Peter muttered to Ned.

“Who knows, man? It’s MJ. She’s hard to predict. Come on, let’s go get lunch.”

And that was that.

But the next day, Peter still noticed MJ hanging back, not really engaging with everything around her. She spent a lot of time at the back of the group, nose in a book, rather than paying attention to her surroundings. On more than one occasion, Betty had grabbed her arm and guided her the right way.

“Hey, I’m kind of worried about her,” Peter said to Ned. “Do you think something’s wrong?”

Ned shrugged. “Stop worrying about it. It’s just MJ being MJ.”

But Peter knew the difference between MJ being MJ, and MJ being…angry about something.

The tour of the aquarium seemed to pass excruciatingly slow for both MJ and Peter. MJ’s book ( _Come As You Are_ , but hidden in the dust jacket of _1984_ because the cover of _Come As You Are_ was a little…vaginal) was doing nothing to make her feel better, and all the fun facts about sharks in the world didn’t make Peter worry less.

The tour ended, and the group was allowed to wander around on their own for a while and just take it all in, something their biology teacher was encouraging they do strongly.

MJ wandered around, looking up from her book whenever a teacher walked by, but otherwise hanging back. And then she felt a tentative hand on her shoulder. She whipped around.

“Peter!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Peter said. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay?”

MJ frowned. “Uh, why wouldn’t I be okay?”

Peter found himself floundering a little. Could you blame him? A very pretty girl was standing in front of him, illuminated by the blue lights of the aquarium. He couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked in this light.

“Um, well, you’ve-you’ve, uh, been sorta hanging-hanging back from the group, and-I don’t know, you seem…disconnected. Maybe.”

“Oh.” MJ blinked. Maybe he was more observant than she gave him credit for. “It’s-nothings wrong, I just hate aquariums. On principle.” She nodded, as though that would make Peter understand.

He nodded half-heartedly. “Right.”

“You know, because they take sea life out of their habitat and put the animals in tanks that are too small and let the public tap on the glass and yell at the animals and it’s just all very unethical.” She realized she was rambling about halfway through her spiel, and almost couldn’t bring herself to stop. When she did, her heart was pounding, just from talking to Peter.

“Oh. Yeah. That makes-that makes a lot of sense.”

“But I’m fine, Peter. You can go back to staring at the jellyfish.”

He chuckled as she gestured at the tank next to them, but then his attention was caught by them, and he found himself gravitating towards the tank. MJ stood back, watching him.

“I just think it’s all really…beautiful,” Peter said, voice taking on a softer quality. “The way jellyfish move, for instance. They’re just bundles of nerves, but they move so fluidly and ethereally.”

His face was lit with the blue light, and he was smiling as he talked, eyes sparkling.

He kept talking, and MJ kept listening intently.

How did she get here? Standing behind a beautiful boy at an aquarium, hanging onto his every word, falling more and more in love with him as he went.

“…you know?”

MJ nodded.

Peter turned towards her, fully. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

What MJ wanted to do was close the space between them, grab him and kiss him, tell him he was sweet and caring and thoughtful and easy as hell to fall for.

But instead, she nodded and smiled. And he smiled, too, shoulders dropping visibly with relief.

The day to grab him and kiss him would come, on a bridge in London, but that was a long way off.

For now, she was happy to observe.


End file.
